Breaking new ground for Telford company move
A ground breaking ceremony has taken place for a £3 million factory which could be the catalyst for a string of investments in Telford.
The Telford 54 development at Nedge Hill, near the Stafford Park Industrial Estate, is earmarked for industrial development, with huge spaces available for companies to build factories.
Now work has begun on the first building on the site, for oil mist extraction unit maker Filtermist, which will relocate from Bridgnorth next year.
Managing director Jim Stansfield was joined by Ian Galliers, of Shrewsbury developers Morris Property, and Telford & Wrekin Council officials for the ceremony.
"It's a historic day, the next step for our company, and we can't wait to get into the factory," Mr Stansfield said.
"It's sad to leave Bridgnorth, but it cements our future in Shropshire and we are bringing everybody across with us."
The company grew turnover from £9 million to £11 million between 2012 and 2013, and hopes to top that this year. Its staff has increased from 40 to around 50, and it will use the added capacity to expand again.
"We were restricted in many ways at the site we were in, and a lot of this is to do with increased capacity," Mr Stansfield added.
Morris will employ around 50 people on the 29,000sq ft factory's construction, which will last for 30 weeks.
Telford 54 is currently home to crime prevention company Smartwater and measurement systems firm Torus.
It contains seven plots, with the biggest providing an area to be developed of more than 600,000sq ft – by comparison, the much-heralded new JLR plant beside the M54 is 775,000sq ft.
Already Telford & Wrekin Council has approved one planning application for the new site, for Axyz Automation Systems, which is currently based at Albrighton near Shifnal.
It would see the CNC machines specialist build a factory and offices on the 41,800sq ft site that would share Plot One on the development with Filtermist.
Colin Silk, of architects Silk Sharples Jennings, said: "It's really major for Telford. It's taken a long time to get the site up and running and hopefully it will be a catalyst for the whole site."
In its planning application, Axyz said it would create new jobs at the site.
